Dyadic Emotional Dialogue Among Early Childhood Educators: Exploring an Understudied Aspect of Educational Climate

This mixed-methods study explores the emotional and relational dimensions of dyadic dialogue between early childhood educators - specifically between kindergarten teachers and assistants. Grounded in theoretical perspectives from dialogic pedagogy and developmental and organizational psychology, the study conceptualizes emotional dialogue as a reflective, co-constructed process through which educators express, respond to, and make meaning of emotional experiences in their daily professional lives.The sample included 60 early childhood teachers (30) and assistants (30) from Israeli kindergartens. The qualitative component included thematic analysis of authentic professional conversations, conducted in a structured setting designed to simulate naturally occurring dialogue. This analysis identified five key dimensions of emotional dialogue: (1) emotional awareness and expression, (2) Fostering acceptance, (3) emotional containment and resolution of negative emotions, (4) positive affect, appreciation and respect, and (5) negative affect - hostility or emotional distance. The quantitative analysis explored associations between emotional dialogue and a range of psychological, interpersonal, and environmental variables, using the CLASS framework (Pianta et al., 2008).Findings revealed that emotionally attuned dialogue is positively associated with educators’ cognitive empathy, attachment orientations, and psychological control, as well as their subjective and interpersonal professional experiences - such as professional self-efficacy, job satisfaction, sense of coherence, evaluation of the assistant’s professional performance, quality of team functioning, and observed quality of classroom climate. These results highlight the potential value of fostering emotional dialogue within early childhood teams as a pathway to enhancing educational quality and professional well-being.